New Jersey Devils’ Blake Coleman, left, watches the puck go wide of Vancouver Canucks goalie Jacob Markstrom, right, of Sweden, as Nikolay Goldobin, of Russia, slides into Markstrom during the first period of an NHL hockey game in Vancouver, on Friday March 15, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Devils rally to burn Canucks 3-2 in shootout

VANCOUVER — Damon Severson scored in the seventh round of the shootout to give the New Jersey Devils a 3-2 win over the Vancouver Canucks on Friday night.

The Devils had trailed 2-0 early in the third period before Kevin Rooney and Stefan Noesen scored goals 7:53 apart to force overtime.

Vancouver rookie Elias Pettersson broke out of a scoring slump with a power-play goal to open the scoring in the second period. The Canucks took a 2-0 lead early in the third when Tanner Pearson scored. Bo Horvat had two assists.

Rooney started the Devils’ comeback with a deflection at 5:41. Noesen made it 2-2 at 13:34 when he chipped Eric Tangradi’s pass behind Canuck goaltender Jacob Markstrom.

Pettersson’s goal was his first in 12 games. It gives the 20-year-old Swede 59 points on the season — a team-leading 27 goals and 32 assists — and leaves him one point behind Pavel Bure and Ivan Hlinka for most points in a season by a Vancouver rookie.

“Nice to score there, but I should have been more selfish in OT too. We were too cute in OT. I’ll learn from it.” – Pettersson https://t.co/0gSRHAwuQQ

Goalie MacKenzie Blackwood made 25 stops for the Devils, who are 1-6-1 in their last nine games.

Before the game started, the Devils (27-36-9) were eliminated from playoff contention when the Columbus Blue Jackets defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 3-0. New Jersey is 14th in the Eastern Conference, six points behind the New York Rangers.

The Canucks (29-32-10) mathematically remain in the playoff hunt. They trail Arizona by nine points in the race for the final Western Conference wild-card spot.

Pettersson opened the scoring at 3:18 of the second period with New Jersey’s Drew Stafford off for tripping. He took a pass from Brock Boeser and ripped a shot from the faceoff circle over Blackwood’s shoulder.

Vancouver also scored on a power play in Wednesday’s win over the New York Rangers. It’s the first time since November the Canucks have scored on the power play in back-to-back games.

Pearson scored with 1:42 gone in the third on an innocent looking shot from the top of the faceoff circle. Blackwood swung his stick, but the puck seemed to go underneath and between his pads.

The Canucks lost two defencemen in a scoreless first period.

Chris Tanev limped off the ice and headed to the dressing room after blocking a Kyle Palmieri shot during a Devils power play. He returned for a brief skate, but left the bench again. Ashton Sautner was hurt later in the period after blocking a shot with his right arm. He returned later.

NOTES: Canucks forward Jay Beagle didn’t take the pre-game skate and was replaced by Tim Schaller. … Canucks forward Antoine Roussel suffered a season-ending knee injury in Wednesday’s win over the Rangers. … The Canucks didn’t get their first shot on net until almost 6:30 was gone in the opening period. … Entering the game, the Canucks (237) and Devils (293) had combined for 530 man-games lost to injury. … The last time Vancouver won back-to-back games was Jan. 18 and Jan. 20 over Buffalo and Detroit.